In many parts of the country, comforters are found on the beds in many households. While many comforters are lighter than blankets and thereby preferred by many as a bed cover, such comforters are not without their problems. One of these problems has arisen because the size of the beds found in many households has increased. At one time, the bedrooms in many houses featured one or two twin beds or a double bed. Now it is not unusual to find either a queen size bed or a king size bed in a bedroom. An even larger bed called a California King is now becoming popular. To cover a queen size bed, a king size bed or a California king size bed, bedding manufacturers have made larger and larger comforters.
The first problem is that while the size of comforters has increased most homeowners have not upsized their home laundry equipment to handle these larger comforters. The result is that large comforters are difficult, if not impossible, to load into home washing machines. Thus, large comforters must be taken out to a commercial laundry for dry cleaning or washing. Others take their large comforters to a laundromat featuring washers made to accommodate oversized loads.
When a large comforter is stuffed into a home washing machine, the size of a large comforter prohibits a thorough washing. This stuffing of a large comforter into a home washer creates its own set of problems. First, the comforter may not get properly cleaned as the soapy water in the washing machine may not be able to reach all parts of the large comforter. Second, the agitator may actually cause the batting or material in the large comforter to move around within the comforter and form undesirable clumps. Third, overloading a home washing machine may cause damage to the home washing machine.
After the comforter has been washed, most homeowners find that it may take several cycles of a dryer to dry these larger comforters if the larger comforter can even be dried at all. As with home washing machines, attempting to stuff a dryer with a large comforter may damage the home dryer.
Such problems with regard to the laundering of large comforters have become known to manufacturers of large comforters. In response, most manufacturers of large comforters have been reluctant to further increase the size of comforters provided for use on a queen size bed, a king size bed or a California king sized bed as such an increase in size would only exacerbate laundering problems.
A second problem occurs when large comforters are used on a queen size bed, king size bed or California king sized bed. When one occupant of a bed becomes too warm while sleeping, the tendency is to throw the large comforter toward the other side of the bed. This causes the comforter to double up over the other occupant of the bed. This doubling up of the comforter may cause the other occupant of the bed to become too warm. The result is that the large comforter winds up as a big lump in the middle of the queen size bed, the king size bed or the California king size bed and neither occupant of the bed is able to achieve the desired level of body temperature comfort. The big lump of a large comforter in the middle of the bed is like adding another occupant to the bed. With a portion of the bed space now devoted to the large comforter the purpose of having a large bed is defeated.
There is therefore a need in the art for a bedding system which will accommodate the personal temperature comfort differences of the occupants of a bed and can be easy to launder in the washing machines and dryers found in most homes.